Out Of State Trash

As far as I'm concerned, Sept. 11 has not changed one of the state's -- and, by extension, the Lehigh Valley's -- biggest problem. This commonwealth is the largest importer of trash in the union, shamefully boasting 49 municipal waste landfills and seven municipal waste incinerators. Here in the Lehigh Valley, we have to contend with three of them expanding their operations to import garbage from New York and New Jersey. This is an especially serious, chronic problem since last year New York closed its Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, which was the largest in the country!

Gov. Ed Rendell wants to turn trash brought to Pennsylvania landfills into money to save green spaces by increasing state dumping fees. He wants dumping fees to go from $6.50 to $11.50 per ton. The new revenue would benefit the Growing Greener program, a creation of Gov. Rendell's predecessor, Republican Tom Ridge. It's a steep increase, but, we believe, one worth doing for the sake of improving environmental protection in Pennsylvania. We're not convinced it is a way of restricting the amount of out-of-state trash that is imported to this state, but that isn't the real point.

To the Editor: The Morning Call's March 11 editorial, "A compact for trash makes sense," makes several valid arguments about out-of-state trash and its impact on Pennsylvania. The editorial makes one notably flawed argument, however. It implies that Gov. Ridge's only approach to solving this problem is his recent message to New York City not to send its trash to Pennsylvania communities that have not agreed to accept this waste. But the day before that editorial, Gov. Ridge was in Washington, D.C., to ask Pennsylvania's congressional delegation (for the fifth year in a row)

In a break with tradition, the Sierra Club's Pennsylvania Chapter endorsed a candidate for lieutenant governor Thursday. Calling state Sen. Allen Kukovich, D-Westmoreland, "exceptionally qualified," Dave McGuire, chairman of the chapter's political team, said the club felt confident in breaking precedent by endorsing a candidate in the primary. Under a willow tree on the banks of the Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown, Kukovich pledged at a news conference to continue the advocacy that has earned him the praise of environmentalists for two decades.

Independent congressional candidate Robert J. Cash thinks U.S. Rep. James Greenwood's legislation restricting out-of-state waste disposal would toss the U.S. Constitution on the trash heap. The measure is "unconstitutional," said Cash, an environmental lawyer who has represented New Jersey communities fighting landfills and incinerators and is running for Bucks County's 8th District seat. Greenwood, a Republican serving his first term, countered that New Jersey communities should take care of their own trash instead of sending it to Pennsylvania, and Bucks County in particular.

Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of being the nation's No. 1 importer of out-of-state trash. A bill introduced last week in Congress offers a more effective, long-term approach to limiting the state's importation of trash, than Gov. Tom Ridge's "just say no" approach toward New York City. More-densely populated states lacking sufficient landfill space, such as New York and New Jersey, have been sending millions of tons of garbage a year across their borders. Pennsylvania landfills accepted about 6.3 million tons of trash from New Jersey, New York and 29 other states, plus Canada, in 1997.

Independent congressional candidate Robert J. Cash thinks U.S. Rep. James Greenwood's legislation restricting out-of-state waste disposal would toss the U.S. Constitution on the trash heap. The measure is unconstitutional, said Cash, an environmental lawyer who has represented New Jersey communities fighting landfills and incinerators and is running for Bucks County's 8th District seat. Greenwood, a Republican serving his first term, countered that New Jersey communities should take care of their own trash instead of sending it to Pennsylvania -- and Bucks County in particular.

With word from state Department of Environmental Protection officials that excluding out-of-state trash from the Tullytown landfill would be difficult, if not impossible, the Bucks County commissioners said they will not appeal the expansion of the Lower Bucks site. The commissioners said they did not approve of the expansion but could not prevent it and would not waste residents' money in a drawn-out legal fight similar to the Point Pleasant Pump. "The county commissioners maintain their position that the county should not appeal because of the possible costly litigation," Commissioner Michael Fitzpatrick said.

Nobody likes out-of-state trash except landfill owners. So there shouldn't be much opposition to Gov. Tom Ridge's proposals to freeze the permitting of municipal waste landfills, permanently cap the amount of waste-disposal capacity in the state, or impose fees on waste haulers, right? Not exactly. State environmentalists argue the governor's proposal -- which was unanimously approved by the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee recently --doesn't go far enough. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary James M. Seif says the proposal is the only way Pennsylvania can reverse its reputation as the nation's biggest recipient of out-of-state trash "that will stand up in court."

Officials of Pennsylvania, the nation's No. 1 importer of out-of-state trash, anticipated the state would keep this dubious distinction once 1998 records were totaled. Sure enough: Pennsylvania imported more trash than any other state last year, 9.8 million tons. Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced several bills to give states more control over incoming trash. Most recently, two Republicans, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. James Greenwood of the 8th District, introduced identical bills to provide the following: A ban on all out-of-state municipal solid waste unless a landfill obtains the agreement of the local government to allow for the importation of waste.

As far as I'm concerned, Sept. 11 has not changed one of the state's -- and, by extension, the Lehigh Valley's -- biggest problem. This commonwealth is the largest importer of trash in the union, shamefully boasting 49 municipal waste landfills and seven municipal waste incinerators. Here in the Lehigh Valley, we have to contend with three of them expanding their operations to import garbage from New York and New Jersey. This is an especially serious, chronic problem since last year New York closed its Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, which was the largest in the country!

Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman added his voice to the chorus of politicians saying enough is enough when it comes to the Grand Central Sanitation landfill in Plainfield Township. Reibman has written letters to Gov. Tom Ridge, the state Department of Environmental Protection and area legislators urging them to support federal legislation aimed at limiting out-of-state garbage from being dumped in Pennsylvania. Reibman issued a press packet on Tuesday with copies of his letter, the proposed legislation known as the Solid Waste Interstate Transportation Act and a map showing the 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., that dump their garbage in Pennsylvania's landfills.

By GERRY McCLENAHAN Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | August 23, 2001

Pennsylvania is the nation's leading importer of trash from other states, a circumstance acutely felt in Schuylkill County. The county's landfill in Pine Grove Township will run out of space by 2004, and officials are scrambling to find a new home for the garbage. Schuylkill finds itself in a bind. Community concerns have stymied plans for new or expanded landfills, yet trash continues to pour in -- profitably -- from other states. If no solution is found, the county could run out of space for trash by 2010.

There was something about the hearing on trash imports Wednesday in the U.S. House that seemed so familiar -- Deja vu all over again, as the saying goes. That's because, though it was the first time the 107th Congress considered the issue, Congress has explored and rehashed the issue over and over with no legislative solution to the problem: How can states restrict trash imports from neighboring states and Canada? Two congressmen from this area, Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-8th District, and Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11th District, recently wrote separate bills that would give states and local governments more control over waste imports through import caps, regional compacts and other methods.

Pennsylvania is tired of being the dumping ground for other states' garbage. But New York says its trash is treasure for other places willing to sell landfill space. State loyalties trumped party politics Wednesday when members of a House Commerce panel argued over whether states should be able to restrict trash imports from neighboring states and Canada. The problem has vexed Congress for years with importing and exporting states squaring off and the waste industry fighting new regulations.

To the Editor: I work for a local municipality and I know how much effort we put into recycling programs. So when I read in the June 24 Morning Call, "Keystone state is the trashiest" in the nation, I began to wonder why we are working so hard to keep our landfills down? According to the article, Pennsylvania landfills have trash in them from 24 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Puerto Rico. Every day on I-78, municipal waste trucks from Long Island pass me on their way in and out of Pennsylvania.

Ivan Itkin, the Democratic candidate for governor, criticized Gov. Tom Ridge Friday for not using his executive power to halt landfill expansions and to limit the amount of out-of-state trash coming into Pennsylvania. Speaking to the Northampton County Association of Township Officials, Itkin told the local supervisors, "Tom Ridge's Pennsylvania has truly become America's Dumpster." Before heading to Philadelphia on the campaign trail, Itkin stopped at Easton's Pomfret Club, where the association was holding its annual convention.

The five candidates for Bucks County commissioner gathered yesterday to talk about their vision of the county's environment and how to preserve it. The Bucks County Conservation Alliance hosted Republican incumbents Michael Fitzpatrick and Charley Martin and Democratic incumbent Sandra A. Miller and her running mate Isabel Godwin and independent Jay Russell for a discussion of environmental issues. The session was the first attended by all candidates. Miller skipped a Christian Coalition meeting Tuesday because of the group's anti-abortion platform.

It has withstood months of public debate and two corporate takeovers, and now it has passed muster with the state Environmental Hearing Board. The $26.1 million sale of Bethlehem Landfill has been consigned to the city's history books. A state Department of Environmental Protection's hearing board last month dismissed an appeal of the sale by local environmentalists -- the last such appeal pending. The ruling brings a close to the sale but not the issue, said Lehigh University professor Albert Wurth Jr., who filed the suit in October 1998, along with Greta Browne, Guy Gray and others.